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Tuesday, February 21, 2017

A while back I posted a film about a Latvian gentleman named Jacob who built his wooden house over the course of three years using timber he felled himself and old joinery techniques. It's a beautiful home. Here is another about it.

Friday, February 3, 2017

Back when I was in high school I found a book at the library which really captured my imagination, and I brought it home several different times. It was Rolling Homes: Handmade Houses on Wheels, by Jane Lidz. For a long time I wanted this book, and kept an eye on the copy that was for sale on Amazon for $74. It's since come down in price, but when I found it for $25 at Powell's, I grabbed it. So naturally I'm a huge fan of the Tiny House Movement and have been keeping an eye on that as well.

I'm also a huge fan of Ana White. Ana makes furniture with her husband, and they put the plans out for everything they make on her site, www.ana-white.com for free. If you're in the least (and I do mean least) bit handy and need a piece of furniture you ought to look for it in her many designs, because there are a lot and they look pretty easy to put together. Lately, she and her husband have turned their collective hand to making tiny houses.

This house is not the fanciest or the most high-end finished I've seen, but it does incorporate a lot of really clever ideas I haven't seen anywhere else. I especially like the elevator bed and have thought this a good way to get a bed in a small space without having to climb up stairs or a ladder (think: age in place), but my idea for getting it up and down was a lot more primitive. Using a garage door opener to get the job done was pretty ingenious. There are other smart ideas as well. Enjoy!

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

I've had this post in draft form since the middle of February of 2015, which tells me that I've been using the following homemade deodorant preparation for almost two years! I used to be a 'clinical protection' antiperspirant user, but at close to eight dollars a throw every time I needed to buy it, it was quickly burning through my money because the clinical protection versions are very soft, which means you use them up quickly. Plus, I've found that they don't work nearly as well as the homemade stuff does. As my twenty-something niece told me after wearing it through a six-hour ballet rehearsal, "no stank!" (her words).

Anyway, I'll never go back to commercial deodorant again because this has saved me a ton of money and worked phenomenally over the course of two years, so consider this a gift from me to you.

In a bowl over a pan of boiling water (or a double boiler if you have one), melt the coconut oil. Mix in the arrowroot powder and baking soda. Remove from heat and allow to cool to pudding consistency. Then mix in the essential oils and quickly get it into the jar because it's starting to harden at that point.

Helpful tips:

stir well at pudding stage because otherwise the arrowroot powder drops out of suspension and settles

the patchouli is an antibacterial EO so if you don't like the smell of tea tree oil, skip it and add more patchouli. I find that the patchouli oil, with the lemongrass and lavender go a long way to covering most of the tea tree oil

apply a pea-size amount to your underarms and rub in well. then grab a tissue or hunk of toilet paper and blot the excess off to keep it off your clothes

About Me

What can I say? I'm a person of disparate interests and strengths- I keep the checkbook balanced to the penny and pay the bills on time (usually), but I can't manage to keep crap from accumulating on the dining room table. I tend to obsess over the proper use of English grammar (at least, as I understand it), but my math skills are practically non-existent. This is probably why I'm always amazed that the built-in furniture I make for this house turns out as well as it does. I find that the older I get, the less willing I am to suffer fools gladly, but I love well when I love. I shoot from the hip and eat a lot of foot, but at least you don't have to guess what I'm thinking or feeling. I sleep too little and drink too much, and I still haven't figured out what I want to be when I grow up, which is probably why I haven't. However, I do seem to fake it pretty well. To know me is to love me - at least, that's what I keep telling myself. Did I also mention that I'm a loose cannon? And now I have both a soap box and a huge megaphone called a blog....